Ireland Is Classed Top Performer In Skills & Innovation Across The EU

The European Commission’s Small Business Act Fact Sheet for 2017 found Ireland is the top performer in skills and innovation in the EU.

Another measure where Ireland scores particularly well is the percentage of public contracts being secured abroad by SMEs. This is at 17.2% many multiples of the EU average of 2.6%.

In eight of the nine SBA areas; entrepreneurship, second chance, responsive administration, state aid & public procurement, access to finance, single market, skills & innovation and internationalisation, Ireland performs above or well above the EU average.

On the environment, Ireland performs in line with the EU average.

During 2016 and the first quarter of 2017, which is the reference period for policy measures in this year’s SBA fact sheet, Ireland implemented a substantial (17) number of relevant policy measures and announced a further three planned measures that will improve conditions for small businesses.

Welcoming the publication of the SBA Fact Sheet, Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection Pat Breen said:

“I am pleased to see positive results for Ireland in the SBA Sheet again this year. Our rankings have been improving since the publication of Ireland’s first ever National Entrepreneurship Policy Statement in 2014.

“The Policy Statement sets out a plan until 2020 and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation will shortly publish a mid-term review outlining what has been achieved to date.”

The Small Business Act is the EU’s flagship policy initiative to support small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

It is made up of a set of policy measures organised around 10 principles including entrepreneurship, internationalisation, state aid and public procurement.

The publication of the 2017 Fact sheet coincides with SME Assembly which takes place in Tallinn from November 22nd to November 24th, 2017.

The SBA Fact Sheets are produced annually by the European Commission and aim to improve understanding of recent trends and national policies affecting SMEs across the European Union.

Ireland’s SBA profile continues to be competitive and the Fact sheet shows improvements on last year’s performance.